Leadership Process: Having An Open Mind

"It is a lot easier said than done." a participants in one of my training sessions remarked.

"Most leadership principles you shared with us seemed to make sense to young executives and managers like us. But, what we saw being practiced by our bosses are totally different." another young manager interjected.

Though sound like sweeping remarks, I understood what were at the back of their minds. I too understood what were brewing in their hearts.

I had to persuade them to envision what they want to be in their career and how they would like to be seen by their subordinates. After all, leadership is about influencing others for, without them, leadership is meaningless. I had also encouraged them to modify the way they see at issues from different perspectives.

The above remarks challenge managers to have an open mind. There are at least two different perspectives in the above situation. One, looking at how leaders' actions speak louder than their words. Second, looking at how one sees himself in relation to his managerial and leadership roles in an organization.

The first perception positions a manager as a follower. This has to do with how a manager conducts his self-talk or neuro-languistic programming (NLP). In this instance, the negative behaviors manifested by his superiors could demotivate him and erode his respect for his superiors. This could be very very stressful.

The second perception enables a manager to remind himself of his roles and responsibilities in regard to the people he leads vis-a-vis the direction of the organization. Then, this enables him to realign his deliverables and more importantly his behavior. In this way, a manager will be able to resolve his internal conflict, stay proactive and be able to garner support from the team members. He takes responsibility as a leader and he moves on.

As much as managers expected from their leaders, subordinates are looking-up at their manager and how he conducts himself. Subordinates do not care how much their manager knows, until they know how much their manager cares for them. Therefore, who a manager gets is not determined by what he wants but it is determined by who he is.

One must be mindful that an effective managerial leader is one who gets others to want to do their work. It is one who is able to get their followers to do their work not because they had to, but because they want to. And, in the long run, the response a manager gets is not necessarily determined by his position but more importantly, his stimuli.